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Posted on Sat, Jan 28, 2012 : 11:07 p.m.

Huron stifles Milan offense en route to 16-point victory

By Matt Durr

One night after an emotional win over Skyline, the Huron (6-4) boys basketball team handled the Milan Big Reds convincingly, 48-32, Saturday night at Milan High School.

“I thought we did a good job containing their scorers,” said Huron head coach Waleed Samaha. “We did a good job on the boards.”

Both teams were out of sorts early as neither could get into an offensive rhythm.

MLive.com: Boxscore

“The big challenge for us tonight was to come off an emotional win last night, and show some maturity tonight. I thought the kids showed a lot of maturity,” Samaha said.

Milan (9-2) would turn the ball over six times in the first quarter, allowing Huron to take an 11-3 lead after the first quarter. Huron extended its lead 16-5 at one point in the second quarter.

The Big Reds would respond and cut the lead to 22-16 following a Jiles Neely bucket and free throw. It would be closest Milan would get the rest of the way.

“We played a lot of tough games, against a lot of good opponents, and to be able to fight back against a run like that, just shows that our maturity is improving,” said Huron’s Mike Lewis.

Lewis would lead the way for the River Rats with 21 points and eight rebounds on the night. But it was the play of Andre Bond that sparked Huron in the first half. Bond finished with 11 points, five rebounds and four assists in the win. Samaha has been pleased with Bond’s progress this season.

“Andre’s had great back-to-back games,” said Samaha. “He was a floor general for us, made some good decisions with the ball. We need him to play like that for us to win.”

While Bond was happy with his performance, he didn’t think it was anything special.

“We really need everybody to step up, when it’s time to play that game, it’s time to get your head right and get focused,” Bond said. “It just really fell into place.”

With a 26-16 lead at the half, the River Rats came out of the break and went on 12-4 run making the score 38-20. Milan’s struggles holding on to the ball resurfaced in the third quarter as the Big Reds turned it over five times in the first four minutes, killing any chance at a comeback.

Lewis was pivotal in the keeping Milan from starting any run as he broke up numerous plays defensively and scored 12 points in the half.

“Your teammates always help you get those kinds of opportunities when they’re swinging the ball, playing smart and it just comes to anybody really,” Lewis said. “Anybody can get in that position.”

Milan was led on offense by C.J. Turnage and Andre Duffin, who each scored nine points. Turnage would add five rebounds and Duffin, four assists.

After playing a tough schedule, early in the season, Huron has won four straight games. Lewis thinks the wins this weekend are a sign that the team is starting to gel.

“I think our team is really improving. A lot of our young guys are stepping up,” Lewis said. “These are both tough opponents, they prepare well they’re tough teams. We played well; we played smart and showed that we’re improving every day.